Most people only soften the water going to their water heaters. Soft water
is primarily of benefit in washing skin, clothes, or dishes, not for cold
water uses (unless you only wash your clothes in cold water). Therefore the
water is normally diverted before it goes out to the sprinkler system,
(assuming you irrigate only with cold water), leaving your sprinkler system
water hard. However, depending on what minerals make the water in your area
hard, there might be other issues. For instance, some hard ground water in
some areas also can make the soil alkaline or otherwise inhospitable to
plants. Maybe you want to check how things were done in your installation.
"Schooner" wrote in message
...
We just had a water softener installed in our home and I had read where
the sodium in the softened water could kill plants if used extensively.
Has anyone heard anything of this?